May 23, 2011

Banned runner Merritt appeals U.S. rule keeping him from world meet

LaShawn Merritt (center) winning the 400 meters at the 2009 world meet, earning him a wild card to the 2011 world championships (Getty Images)

By Philip Hersh

LaShawn Merritt, banned until July 27 for a doping violation, has petitioned USA Track & Field for an exception to the policy that would prevent him from using his wild card entry to the World Track & Field Championships that begin Aug. 27, according to people with knowledge of the situation.

A decision will be rendered after the U.S. Championships June 23-26.

As reigning world champion in the 400 meters, Merritt earned an entry to the subsequent world meet.

But USATF selection procedures stipulate a reigning world champion must compete at the world meet trials (the U.S. Championships) to get the bye to the world championships. That stipulation was added to avoid having a national championships without the athletes who are world champions, which would cut down the spectator appeal of the U.S. meet.

In Merritt's case, that stipulation is a Catch-22. He cannot comply with it because his 21-month ban does not end until after the nationals.

Merritt, 24, also the reigning Olympic champion, tested positive three times from October 2009 through January 2010 for an anabolic steroid contained in a male enhancement product, ExtenZe, he admitted to using.

An American Arbitration Associating ruling last October on a Merritt appeal may sway USATF to grant the petition. Saying that Merritt accidentally took the banned substance and made a ``painful and humiliating confession'' about the source of the drug, the AAA decision reduced the 24-month ban called for in the world anti-doping code by enough time to make him eligible for the 2011 worlds.

But, under an IOC rule passed in June, 2008, Merritt cannot compete at the 2012 Olympics because he received a doping ban of six months or longer. The AAA said that constituted double jeopardy, since it effectively gave Merritt a 34-month ban, but it did not have final jurisdiction in that part of the appeal.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport will now decide whether the IOC can ban athletes from a subsequent Olympics for a doping suspension that otherwise would end before the next Games.

The U.S. Olympic Committee and the IOC announced last month they have joined to ask CAS -- the ``Supreme Court'' for Olympic-related sports --- for a ruling on the matter well before the 2012 Olympics to avoid messy and costly legal problems at the 11th hour.

About the author

Philip Hersh grew up in Boston but has lived in Evanston since 1977. He has worked at the Tribune since 1984 and has focused on international sports and the Olympics since 1987. In 2011, the German sports publication, SportIntern, named Hersh among the most influential people in world sports, the 11th time he has earned that annual recognition. He was graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in French and a specialization in early 19th Century French literature. Prior to joining the Tribune, Hersh worked for the Gloucester, Mass., Daily Times, the Baltimore Evening Sun, the Chicago Daily News and the Chicago Sun-Times.